


The Gatekeeper's Toll

by GemmaRose



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-19
Updated: 2013-07-19
Packaged: 2017-12-20 17:13:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/889794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack blames the Moon for his memory loss, but he's kinda really wrong about that.</p><p>de-anon from rotg-kink</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Gatekeeper's Toll

Jack was panicking, trying to kick his way back to the surface. Emma needed him to unlace her skates, he still had to chop the next week's firewood and stack it to dry, and Mary wanted him to take her for some moonlight skating in the evening. But it was so hard to move when the cold water filled his lungs and sapped his strength like the sickness that had left mama bedridden for most of the past month. His vision blurred as he struggled for air and only got more water. He blinked, or at least it felt like a blink because when he opened his eyes he stood some yards in front of a towering stone gate etched with curls and symbols he didn't recognise. He took half a step forward, and a mirthless chuckle made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"Well well, what do we have here?"

Jack spun, fists coming up defensively, and blinked in confusion. There figure had no face, no features at all, in fact, save a wide grin full of teeth like the crude headstones in the town graveyard. "Where am I?"

The thing grinned. "You may have heard of this place as 'the afterlife', or perhaps 'purgatory'."

Jack shivered. "What's with the doors?" he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at the massive slabs.

The figure grinned, but Jack found nothing positive in its smile. "Ah, that is indeed the question. You are no sinner, so why have you been sent to me?" it looked past Jack, staring at the doors intently. After a moment it nodded, as though having heard a particularly convincing argument. "You've been chosen."

Jack's brow furrowed in confusion, and a lump of dread settled in his stomach. "Chosen for what?"

The thing laughed. "To be my old friend's plaything, of course." it gestured to the stone rectangles. "Beyond those doors you will find your purpose."

Jack gave the being a skeptical look, but turned and began walking towards the doors. If this place was so pure and white, he must be headed towards Heaven rather than Hell. The slabs swung outwards as he approached, and Jack shivered violently as a cold wind dragged him forward. Heaven, surely. Hell was a place of fire.

The cold wind buffeted him in all directions, and gradually Jack realised he could control the wind, ride upon it like some of the merchants rode their horses. A spray of snow joined him in the looping dance of the wind, and when Jack laughed it became a small flurry. His sleeves and cape sparkled with frost, and when he looked down he found similar patterns at the ragged hem of his too-small pants. Snow and ice, just like the kid called Jokul in his dad's old stories. He was just about to try breathing snow like dragon fire when the half-light and wind disappeared and he was dropped back outside the doors.

He raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sudden brightness, which was rather futile as the light came from everywhere. The thing chuckled, and Jack blinked a few times to help adjust his eyes. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised the Tsar chose this for you."

Jack straightened up. "Tsar?"

The figure nodded, tapping its chin. "He's not important, though." it grinned. "What is important, is the toll you have to pay."

Jack automatically reached for his belt, where he hung the money pouch when mother sent him to market, and the figure laughed. "Oh, this isn't a toll you can pay in money, Jack." it stood, and Jack realised it was exactly the same height as he was.

"I don't have much else to give you." he said slowly, dread settling like a canonball in his gut.

The figure smiled its sinister graveyard grin. "It's a pity, to take something so immaterial, but with Lunar's plans for you I'm afraid I can't take my usual fare."

Jack's body tingled, and like slips of paper being pasted into a book the thing took on his appearance. The only differences between them was that it still had the graveyard grin, and Jack's clothing was covered in a rime of ice. "You-"

The not-Jack nodded, and Jack realised the hair which hung at the edges of his view was now white like his surroundings.

"This is how you remember yourself, Jack." it grinned slyly, and Jack felt a sense of foreboding. "Watching you will be... interesting."

Jack opened his mouth to ask what it meant, but then all was darkness. For a moment he panicked, but then the moon's light reached him and the fear was gone. Trees, snow, a starry sky covered with scraps of cloud. And a name he instinctively knew was his, whispered from the moon's distant skin and carried down on the wind. Jack Frost.


End file.
